Economics and War & Peace
I am not a 'war and peace' economist, only an economist who has some comments on the work of other economists who discuss such issues. Also, my main advice is that democratic nations adopt a constitutional amendment for an Economic Supreme Court - see DRGTPE (or if you are in a hurry, see the earlier working paper in html that is improved upon in DRGTPE). Having an Economic Supreme Court makes that science gets a level playing field with political management (and economics is the science of management of the state). Having an Economic Supreme Court makes that we have a better decision making structure, to settle complex issues. DRGTPE takes unemployment as the key example of how the absence of an Economic Supreme Court causes a socially worse situation. But the issue of war and peace would be another example. And the end of his life, Jan Tinbergen indeed turned to the issue of war and (inter-) national security. Outlays for defence are huge, and if we would find other ways for security, then these resources could be used for development and the growth of welfare. James Galbraith now is chairman of ECAAR - and a fine economist as well, working at UTIP - and presents the same line of thinking. In general, dire situations need not result into war and oppression.
In the Great Depression in thh 1930s, Germany fell to dictatorship and
war, but the US remained a democracy.
Sadly, policy makers appear slow in minimising those risk factors. Part of the cause will be that policy makers become more important members of society when there is a conflict. It is part of politics to create a conflict in order to achieve one's goals. Apart from this general observation, there are the details of specific conflicts. Earlier, I already took a stand on Kosovo - which in itself is more a political stand but can also be considered from a scientific point of view. In the same vein, there now is the "War on Terrorism", after the awful terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. For reasons of time, my comments have to be short. These comments again are more of a political stand, but can also be considered from a scientific point of view.
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